A Fund for Jennie

It was two weeks ago when Jennifer Perillo tweeted “He’s gone. And my heart is shattered in a million pieces.” That Friday thousands of people around the blogosphere made peanut butter pies in honor of her husband Michael’s sudden passing away. Twitter was abuzz with the hashtag #apieformikey and the food blogging community realized how much love and support there was for one of our own. I made a peanut butter pie for my dessert party on Saturday and it was with sweetness and sadness that I took a bite of what was a pretty darn great dessert. As wonderful as the peanut butter pie was, the food blogging community has decided to rally one more time around Jennifer, this time to raise funds for her.

Mikey's Creamy Peanut Butter Pie

#AFundForJennie is spearheaded by Shauna of Gluten Free Girl and Maggy of Three Many Cooks and is organized under the new nonprofit organization Blogger without Borders. Created by Maggy, Erika of Ivory Hut and Aimee of Simple Bites, Blogger without Borders was created to help out bloggers in times of need. And as their official inaugural campaign, they are helping to raise money for Jennifer.

As you know, Jennie has had a lot on her plate. Suddenly she is responsible for raising two children by herself. Apparently she cannot collect widow’s benefits from Social Security because she makes over $14,160 annually (an absurdly low number, made even worse when one lives in NYC like Jennie does). Her health insurance for herself and her kids runs out this December and the cost of it will quite possible be more than her mortgage. The apartment she lives in was listed in Mikey’s name alone, not hers, which means she quite possibly will have to pay off the mortgage in one lump sum. And, of course, she’s still grieving.

There, of course, are simple things you could do to help out. You could help Jennie out by donating to the Blogger without Borders fund. You can tweet about this fundraising event using the hashtag #AFundForJennie to rasie awareness. You can post about it on Facebook and tell all your friends. You can also hold an auction or bid on one.

Many food bloggers out there are holding auctions to raise money. Shauna over at Gluten Free Girl will be auctioning off a gluten free dinner for 6, hosted by her and Danny, the Chef. Maggy and Erika will be auctioning off tickets to the next Big Summer Potluck 3 in summer of 2012. And me, I’ll be auctioning off…well, I can’t reveal what yet.

I’ll be blogging and posting about my auction item soon. But in the meanwhile, check out Twitter and see what other people have come up with. For the rest of this week, keep an eye out on some of your favorite food blogs and see if they are donating or auctioning off something for Jennie. And if you have a food blog yourself, please consider offering an item for auction or adding a donation button to your site for Bloggers without Borders. Thank you and much love to Jennie.